What a way to cap off the 2007 Formula 1 Season. What an exciting finale. That’s already an understatement in itself.

In one of the most-hotly contested Formula 1 seasons in recent years, the world drivers’ championship has been decided on the final race of the season and the strangest of things happened in the most important race of the season. The three protagonists, McLaren Mercedes’ Fernando Alonso (103 championship points) and Lewis Hamilton (107 championship points), and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen (100 championship points) were at the forefront of the Brazilian battlefield: Interlagos Racing Circuit. And coincidentally, this race saw another potential Englishman as World Driver Champion fail and get his impending championship snatched in the final races of the Formula 1 season. Hamilton had the chance to win it all in China but he muffed his first chance. Sadly, he also failed in his last chance to gain the title in Brazil. And sure Kimi Raikkonen did capitalize on the rookie’s mistakes.

If you think you have seen the wildest and the most unpredictable of this already wild and unpredictable, you better think again. The Brazilian Grand Prix was wild from the get go as Ferrari seized early control of the race with a Ferrari 1-2 race order. Massa did a good job of covering Hamilton to let Raikkonen pass through to gain second place. Hamilton slid down to fourth place from second on the grid due to the poor race start. Several laps later, Lewis Hamilton made another driving mistake, completely missing out on the racetrack which cost him 4 places and brought him down to 8th place. On the other end of the spectrum, Ferrari was running away with the race as Massa paced followed by Raikkonen.

Fast-forward to several laps later, the unexpected happened - and it happened to Lewis Hamilton. His car had a gearbox problem and his gearbox was temporarily stuck at neutral, causing him to slow down at the side of the race track. For most of the McLaren Fans they thought it was doom, but Hamilton got his car to run up again and race but the gearbox problem cost him a lot - a total of 10 places that brought him down to 18th place. He started revving his car like never before and he caught up with backtrailers immediately - devouring them like hapless victims of his anger and fury. He was catching cars fast but his achievements were offset by the gamble of McLaren to put him in a 3-stop strategy.

Fernando Alonso had a fairly quiet race, though. His only bright moment was when he outmaneuvered Hamilton in the first corners of the first lap to gain snatch 3rd place away from Hamilton and from then on it was relatively a quiet race for him. The most interesting trio of the race is the trio of Rosberg, Heidfeld and Kubica. The three were chasing each other during the race and were obviously trading moves for moves but the best move that happened was when Kubica overtook Heidfeld and Rosberg when the two cars went wide on the first corner just approximately near the start/finish line. Great racing from the three guys and I’m sure that BMW team principal Dr. Mario Theissen is very happy with his two drivers. They placed 2nd in the constructors championship this year.

Now going back to the race. Massa was leading throughout the race until he stopped in Lap 50. Raikkonen stayed on for three more laps - enough for him to take the lead and from then on Kimi Raikkonen cruised with Massa on his back and he got the race win plus the drivers’ title because Alonso and Hamilton did not finish the race in the position that they should finish it. Many would say that Massa dropped his pace and the race for Raikkonen to lead and win the overall driver’s title but that’s the essence of teamwork. You give the table for your teammate is in the groove and has the best chance of carrying your team to victory. It panned out well for them. Now they both won the Constructors’ and the Drivers’ title.

The race ended up with Raikkonen winning by 1 championship point over Alonso and Hamilton who both had 109 points after the race. This is one of the greatest Italian Jobs of Ferrari, another one being by Alain Prost when he sneaked in from the backdoor to win over Williams teammates Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell. What a feat for Kimi Raikkonen.

What a year it was for Formula 1. What a year it was for Ferrari.

HAIL TO THE SCARLET RED!